WVU will Honor State, Veterans with Special Uniforms Saturday

Saturday’s game against Texas Tech is full of opportunities for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

It is an opportunity for the team to break a four-game losing streak and win for the first time since Sept. 21, it is an opportunity to play at home in front of the Mountaineer fans for the first time since Oct. 12 and it is an opportunity for the team to pay respect to a special group of West Virginians.

“There’s a lot going on this week,” head coach Neal Brown explained. “We’ve got Mountaineer Week on campus, it’s true blue for all our fans and then, most importantly, it’s military appreciation day. It’s a day where we’re going to honor our state’s veterans with Veteran’s Day coming on Monday following the game.”

To go along with both the true blue game and military appreciation day, WVU has broken out some special uniforms for Saturday.

Game 9️⃣ | True Blue 🔵 🇺🇸#HailWV | #TrustTheClimb

Presented by @BookExchangeWV pic.twitter.com/9WcElanqtE

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 7, 2019

This will be the first time this season the Mountaineers will wear the blue helmet, blue jersey and blue pants combination, to match all the blue fans will be wearing in the stands. The American flag cutout of the state on the sides of the helmet are a tribute to all of WV’s veterans.

Along with the uniforms, WVU will have two honorary captains for Saturday.

“We’ll have two honorary captains,” Brown said. “Fred “Boom Boom” Smalls, who I watched clips of earlier today sacking Doug Flutie so I think our fans will have some fond memories of him, and former U.S. Army Specialist Ted Daniels.”

We are excited to welcome back U.S. Army Major Fred "Boom-Boom" Smalls and former U.S. Army Specialist Ted Daniels as our honorary captains for Saturday's game.

🇺🇸#FBF | #HailWV pic.twitter.com/knnz8xPsqM

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 8, 2019

Smalls played linebacker for the Mountaineers from 1981-85, racking up 200 total tackles in his career. Daniels played guard on the offensive line in the mid-nineties.

Washington and Seoul, South Korea. Major Smalls was a member of the Mountaineer football team from 1982-1986 and served the defensive captain his senior year.

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 8, 2019

During his deployment, Daniels sustained injuries while engaging enemy forces earning him the Purple Heart and numerous other decorations for his service. Daniels was a member of the Mountaineer football team from 1994-96 as a starting offensive guard.

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 8, 2019

Kick-off against the Red Raiders will be at noon in Milan-Puskar Stadium and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.